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"VIIM KUUNGA" RADIO PROGRAMME
Radio Salankoloto is a radio station
broadcasting out of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
which aims to provide information to and to
improve the lives of listeners. The "Viim Kuunga"
radio programme, aired by Radio Salankoloto,
aimed to help combat HIV/AIDS in the community.
This Drum Beat is based on the Case Study
written by Suzanne Fisher -
http://www.comminit.com/pdskdv32003/sld-7545.html
For more information, please contact Suzanne at
suz_fisher@yahoo.co.uk
RADIO SALANKOLOTO
There are approximately 4 million people who
live within Radio Salankoloto's broadcast zone.
While they don't all listen to the radio
station, a large percentage of listeners who are
unable to access other forms of information -
who are illiterate or have received only a basic
education - do tune in. While the radio
broadcasts in French in the mornings, it is the
radio's local language (Mooré - the language of
the Mossi people) afternoon and evening
programmes that attract most listeners.
Radio Salankoloto acts as a "community
telephone" by broadcasting community birth and
death announcements and hosting phone-in talk
shows, which give members of the community a
chance to voice their opinion on various topics.
The radio also has listener clubs in Ouagadougou
and in many rural villages located outside of
the city within the 90 to 100 km radius of its
radio transmitter. The listener clubs were set
up on the initiative of eager listeners who
wanted to provide feedback on the radio
station's content.
THE RADIO DRAMA
Each episode of "Viim Kuunga" was broadcast
at least twice in the afternoon and evening at
times suggested by Radio Salankoloto's listener
clubs.
In Mooré, "Viim" means life, and "Kuunga" is a
traditional drum that alerts people during
emergencies. The title literally means: "Alert!
Save your life!".
13 30-minute episodes were created. The series
aimed to increase listeners' knowledge of the
risks related to STDs and HIV/AIDS and to
encourage the adoption of concrete actions or
behaviour changes conducive to avoiding these
risks.
3 prevention strategies were presented: the use
of condoms, abstinence before marriage and
faithfulness to sexual partners (for instance,
faithfulness to one's multiple wives in the case
of polygamous marriages).
The main aim was for radio listeners to know and
understand ways to prevent the sexual
transmission of HIV/AIDS. To measure impact,
organisers asked radio listeners to cite 3
actions or changes in behaviour that they could
practise in order to protect themselves from
contracting HIV/AIDS after listening to the
programmes.
In order to reach as many facets of the
community as possible, characters were developed
to represent all age groups. The central
characters are adolescents and adults. The two
narrators are elderly.
THE ROLE OF RADIO LISTENER CLUBS
Approximately 40 members living in or around
Ouagadougou were selected by the President of
the listener club to take part in the
development and evaluation of Viim Kuunga. The
listener club was split into 4 focus groups
divided by age and sex (young men, older men
etc.) in order to facilitate a more frank and
open discussion of issues that are rarely
discussed
openly in front of the opposite sex.
The listener club was involved at 2 stages in
the process: during pre-production and in order
to pre-test the first 3 radio programmes. A
third meeting was held with the club to judge
the impact of the radio drama. All 3 meetings
were conducted in Mooré by trained animators.
Contact [in French]: Roger Nikiema, Director of
Radio Salankoloto, ASSOCIATION GALIAN, 01 BP
1095, Ougadougou 01, Burkina Faso. Tel: 00226 31
64 93.
radiosalankoloto@cenatrin.bf
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